Yuri Effect
by Cyricist001
Summary: The war was won...or was it? See what really happened.
1. Chapter 1

Yuri Effect

I own nothing

Tevos hated these sorts of meetings. By the goddess couldn't it be something else, ANYTHING else.

She would rather wrestle a krogan then deal with another human-batarian incident.

Ever since the Council first made contact with the young species they have been nothing but a thorn in her side.

The asari tried hard to keep the galaxy pacified as best as they could but the idea of harmony somehow never could reach those fools.

And she knew whose fault it was, she was looking in his hologram.

The bald human was not in the least bit concern with the accusation against him...like the last time.

„WE DEMAND JUSTICE!" shouted the batarian ambassador.

„For what?" asked the human

„You bloody well know what for!" hissed the batarian „Your attacks on our colonies in the Skyllian Verge!"

„As far as I recall we had this discussion the last time"

Tevos sighted. The last time, the time before that, and the time before that. It was the same thing since the Relay 314 Incident.

In twenty years humanity managed to become the most common cause of migraine in her life.

In 2157. a Turian patrol detected the activation of a dormant Mass Relay and proceeded to enforce Citadel Law.

The group of twenty starships emerged in the vicinity of a bustling garden world and thought it wise to go in guns blazing.

What they didn't know was that the humans were already aware of their presence and their intent.

The salarians still didn't have much luck in understanding the concept of the Psychic Radar but it proved its effectiveness more than once.

The humans allowed the turian ground units to land unmolested. Some soldiers wondered why the buildings were empty but the superiors ignored their concerns as unimportant, rationalizing that the locals fled.

That is when the humans attacked. Tanks called Magnetrons managed to actually pull starships from the orbit making them crash on the planet or in each other.

At the same time human infantry called Initiates managed to encircle a large part of the turian military inside the cities they were send to occupy.

The turian kinetic barriers proved useless against the strange pyrokinetic attack the humans used and were soon decimated.

Only some 2.2% of the soldiers managed to retreat through the kessel back to general Arterius. The rest was either killed or captured.

Since the turian fleet couldn't safely stay in orbit and didn't want to bombard the cities because their own soldiers were in them, they retreated a safe distance away and demanded reinforcements from the nearest base.

The additional ships and troops arrived a few days later and managed with heavy losses to secure air dominance.

Especially the Gattling cannons took a toll both in ground and air units. Soon turians were again pushing into the urban areas of the world they now knew as Shanxi.

The humans fought them street for street, building for building, room for room. And while many turians surrendered to the humans when surrounded, the humans never even attempted it. Even when offered to surrender they rather died then let themselves be captured. Many turians found that sort of disregard for ones own life strange, even terrifying.

The turian casualties were staggering, but they were making quick progress.

And then the disaster happened. An armada of strange bio-mechanical vessels entered the Shanxi system and flanked the turian ships. To the turians shock the ships fired lasers that sliced and pierced their vessels with ease. Not only that they launched projectiles that the ships captains thought were torpedo's...they were horribly wrong.

The spherical projectiles managed to breach the ships barriers by slowing down before the impact and to the turians horror instead of an explosion the spheres opened up allowing leg-like appendages to emerge. The spider-like machines easily sliced their way into the ships, where they started to destroy vital systems or kill the crew. Sometimes the crew themselves would panic and start to shoot at anyone nearby - even their friends and family.

Only later it was found out that the – Chaos Drones – had the ability to confuse organic opponents.

The turian commander was forced to make a fighting retread back to the relay, he didn't want to leave more of the brave turian soldiers at the enemies mercy but either that or they lose the whole of the 6th fleet in this battle.

But the humans had other plans...

They didn't only push the turians out of the system, they followed them.

The conflict soon spread over a dozen of turian worlds, that were surprised by the sudden assault.

The Hierarchy demanded that the Council intervened, and the asari and salarians agreed that the conflict had to be stopped.

The Citadels combined fleets managed to stop the humans advance and were even able to retake most of the occupied world.

It was then that they came face to face with the true nature of the enemy.

Clones! Every single soldier (or rather corpse) they found was only a copy. Not only that their body was so asari like!

That wasn't even the strangest of things.

Turians were actually fighting turians in the streets. Some even recognized the soldiers they left on Shanxi in the first and second attack.

Even civilians that were only a week under occupation started to attack Citadel soldiers.

Entire cities fell into chaos as riots broke out. It was like a nightmare for the average turian soldier who ended up isolated in such a place when hordes of his fellow turians armed from guns to fists charged against his position.

Some didn't want to shoot the civilians and were quickly killed or dragged of only to appear later fighting with the rebels. Others weren't so compassionate.

That strange phenomenon was soon explained – mind control.

The planets inhabitants that were occupied were all brainwashed to the last infant.

The Hierarchy frankly had no idea what to do. They lost control of billions of citizens on dozen of worlds that sided with the aggressor.

Instead of attacking them the Citadel devised a plan in which the war will be fought again on enemy soil. An armada of asari, turian, salarian and batarian ships managed to push its way back to the world of Shanxi.

The two sides clashed again on the human world and for seven long years battled each other for space, air and ground supremacy with shifting results.

The first thing they discovered was that sending agents, spies, saboteurs and Spectres against the enemy didn't work. In fact it proved rather disastrous.

The agents and spies were seen working side by side with Initiates against their own species.

Specters were sabotaging Citadel operations or killing allied officers...it was a catastrophe.

The most results were given by mechs since they were immune to mind control, sadly they were a poor substitute for a skilled asari commando.

The combination of the Psychic Radar and Psychic Towers was able to foil most plans and tactics with utmost ease.

Another surprise was that the bioships had the ability to drain energy from nearby ships leaving them dead in space, that unfortunate fate was reserved for the Destiny Ascension among others.

It was first during the fourth year of the war that finally steps towards peace could be made.

The leader of the human race decided that the conflict lasted to long and that there should be peace.

His name was Yuri.

The Hierarchies demands for reparations were stunningly high, not only that, they also demanded the return of their worlds and citizens.

The humans were ready to return only half of the occupied worlds. That broke the peace talks and the war resumed.

To the Citadels horror the humans soon started to deploy strange weapons that could mind control whole regions with a single use or turn the people there in the monstrosities called Brutes.

The Psychic Dominator was first used against an asari garrison in the occupied city of Datong on Shanxi.

The whole base simply went dark only to make a surprise assault on the batarian troops that were heading for a renewed offensive on the city of Taiyuan.

The Council thought about using atomic weapons against the humans but the weapon they used couldn't be classified as one of Mass Destruction...it didn't destroy anything. So the idea was dropped.

It was only three years later, that the Citadel races had enough of the war and pressured the Hierarchy in accepting the peace treaty.

It left a biter taste to accept such a document. Millions of lives lost on the Citadels side and for all the spilled blood they had nothing to show for it.

Tevos sighted.

Yuri knew the Citadel space inside out thanks to his mind controlled Spectres. So when the Council offered the Skyllan Verge in exchange for the occupied worlds Yuri easily saw through the deception.

The Council had no authority to give the region to anyone.

So humanity kept the turian worlds and still after the signing of the armistice proceeded to colonize the Verge.

That angered the Hegemony that demanded that the Council interfered, but after finally ending the first war nobody had the will to fight another one, and for the batarians of all the people.

So they were left to deal with the humans on their own.

The Hegemony planed to use pirates and slavers to drive the humans out of „their" territory.

As time passed not a single pirate or slaver returned from a human colony with slaves, even worse the number of slavers and pirates was decreasing at an alarming speed.

That all ended in 2178 when a large armada of pirates and slavers attacked the colonies in the Verge..including Torfan.

Entire worlds were depopulated as slavers dragged the people away from their homes.

Now, the batarians KNEW who was responsible, but they had no prof. How do you prove that they were mind controlled?

And that brought her back to the discussion between the batarian ambassador and the hologram of the Yuri clone. The batarian simple had NO prof.

„I don't need prof I know you did it!" he hissed at Yuri who looked bored with the farce, it was only the 67th time that he had to participate in the same discussion.

„As impressive as your knowledge is, It is still not in any way substantial evidence" said Yuri „If I simply believed your word for it then anyone could come and say he was mind controlled and demanded all sorts of things"

Tevos had enough, she didn't know if the pirates were really controlled or simply exploited batarian weakness out of their own free will, but this had to stop soon „Ambassador Jath'Amon, you have been warned as was your predecessor about accusations without any tangible evidence, this matter is closed"

The batarian looked like he wanted to say a few choice words about Tevos and Yuri but thought better of it.

„If that is all I will take my leave" said the hologram before disappearing.

„I hate that guy" said Sparatus. The turians never forgave humanity for all the pain and suffering they brought to them.

„We all do" said Tevos „But until we know a way to stop his mind control technology we are in no position to fight him"

And it was not only his mind control tricks that made humanity almost untouchable. Their knowledge in genetics was to advanced even to contemplate another genophage. For what they knew the madman could have an arsenal of twisted bio weapons stored with the blueprints for his cloning and mind control technology.

* * *

Yuri stroked his beard as he walked away from the communication device.

The Council never did allow any humans in their space so he was forced to use long range holograms. To bad, he would have loved to have a few of his clones on that outdated relic.

He slowly walked past the countless Bio-reactors that stretched the underground complex.

All those slaves that were brought here made an excellent energy source. There was a reason he needed the billions of sentients to produce so much energy, it was linked to one of Alberts old inventions.

He entered a dark damp room and saw the alien with his back turned.

„The batarians again?" asked Javik

„Indeed" said Yuri s he approached the Prothean „but they are irrelevant in the greater scheme of things"

The alien wanted to comment that none of them were, but found it smarter to skip the verbal jab „You still didn't tell me how you planed to fight the Reapers"

„As you have seen my technology is of limited use against synthetics" he said „when the Reapers invade they will be more then able to defeat my armies, even with superior weaponry the sheer number of their ships makes it impossible"

Javik watched the human keenly, although Yuri painted the fight rather bleak there was something that made him certain of victory. So he waited for the madman to explain further.

„Back in the 20. century there were two men who were the leading experts in the domains of electric and atomic energy. The second one succeeded to actually build a functional time machine"

Javik looked at Yuri without knowing how to respond to that „Your serious?"

„I am, and with enough electricity it is able to transport many of my soldiers with me back in time"

„Where do you plan to go?"

„San Francisco in 1973" said Yuri „And yes the machine can transport you to your Empire before it fell"

Javik knew he made a mistake but before he could use his biotic powers a psychic blast made his head explode.

„Rejoice for I have brought peace to your troubled mind" said Yuri as he activated his omni-tool „Start preparations for departure"

He looked over the room and simply left. If his technology wasn't up for the tasks ahead then someone else's will have to be.

He could use the Allied and Soviet blueprints to reconstruct their tech like he did with the time machine, but that wasn't improved upon for more than a century, it was outdated.

But if he traveled back in the past and prevented his victory than humanity will advance further along a different technological path. The brute strength the Soviets and Allies possessed will be far better in fighting the Reapers then his own subversive technology.

And once they did that, he will reemerge with his forces and conquer the weakened survivors.

But for the time machine to be able to transport so many units he needed a vast power source, and he found it in the Verge.

He already send all non essential population in the Bio-reactors, if he removed any more of his labor of military force he was putting himself in danger from outside aggression.

The Initiate clones that normally were placed in hibernation in these Bio-reactors were needed in the evacuation so he couldn't leave them to power trivial things.

He exited his underground bunker only to emerge on the planet's surface. Looking up in the sky he could see his masterpiece. A planet sized ship.

Since he learned from Javik about the Reaper threat he used every spare muscle, every clone, every scrap of energy in its construction. Even leaving the war front with the Council severely understaffed to be able to construct t it in time.

And now it was finished.

Thousands of ships, billions of soldiers and war machines...and Einsteins time machine.

He slowly moved to the landing platform.

* * *

Anya Petrova walked down the city of New Moscow on Mars. She marveled at the achievements of her race.

For example power was gained from Bio reactors. In essence every home was designed in a way that when people slept they produced energy that was harvested and stored for use. There were naturally more reactors deep in the underground complexes, but those were filled by clones soldiers. It not only produced large quantities of nature friendly energy it also doubled as a convenient way to put the reinforcements in stasis in case of war. If by some chance a conflict escalated they would be reanimated to fight the invaders while the civilians would be evacuated in them, where they would be safe and protected.

The other most prominent difference was that humanity didn't use eezo based weapons often.

The ships were outfitted by lasers or gattling cannons that used accelerator rounds. The same was for the ground forces, the Initiates and Brut's. The first used their pyrokinetic powers to instantly incinerate enemies while brutes together with their armor and barriers were send to rip enemy units to pieces with their hands, or even a portable gattling cannon or laser cannon.

She didn't know why all the military buildup since humanity lived in peace now. But if Yuri said to do something you did it.

She glanced down on her new uniform and smiled.

She was recently promoted to command a Leviathan class starship for the glory of humanity and Yuri. She couldn't be happier.

The large heavily armed and armored behemoths were considered the pioneers in space exploration and combat. They weren't the fastest ships but they could get close to any anomaly and study it with all the scientific equipment they could carry.

She finally reached the space port. A shuttle was already waiting for her to be transported to the ship, it was a one of the new organic vessels they were researching. Unlike your normal ships this one could be produced very fast by cloning, had a far superior speed and maneuverability by reacting to the pilots brain waves, fired a strong pyrokinetic beam similar to a laser and was able to regenerate if damaged.

She sat in one of the ships organic cockpits and allowed thin organic tendrils to touch her head.

Her consciousness expanded until she could actually perceive what the ship perceived with its sensors, she could feel the metallic surface, if the ships was damaged or uncomfortable in any way she would know it instantly.

She willed it to take off.

It didn't take long for it to leave the atmosphere and proceeded to dock with the large ship that dwarfed the shuttle many times over. It spanned probably one kilometer and had some two thousand crew members not including the Chaos Drones.

The bioship easily entered a docking area and saw her welcoming comity.

The tendrils under her mental command removed themselves from her head and allowed her to Exit.

„Commander" said a Yuri clone that will serve as her second in command. It was standard for every ship to have one.

Yuris appearance never did change, with his cloning technology every developed colony had a Yuri Prime as its governor. And every military installation and ship a Yuri clone to give advice and help in any way he could.

Beside him were two Initiates at the ready.

She saluted, she probably shouldn't because she was in command but she couldn't help it.

„Second" she nodded as she took point to the bridge.

The ships Bio-reactors and eezo core hummed silently as they supplied the ship with the needed energy.

The soldiers saluted before they returned to their work.

„So we are to transport supplies to the Nyx as a first mission?" that was a rather good way to start a career. A simple task to get to know the crew and familiarize herself with the ship. It's not like she never set foot on a Leviathan before, but every ship has its own pulse so to speak.

Yuri nodded „Yes, we are also tasked to meet a Yuri Prime there."

When they reached the ships bridge she saluted to the crew.

„Commander we are ready for departure" said an Initiate.

She nodded to the man. She will probably never learn their names since they were all clones and hid their faces behind the new Initiate power armor. It was basically a black chitin bio armor with a kinetic barrier and a psychic amplifier that allows them to use pyrokinesis.

His three...well you could call them eyes flashed red as he connected his armors neural connectors to the ships main computer.

All this bio-mechanical tampering was made out of one reason, to prevent hacking. The computers processing ability was enhanced exponentially by every human brain connected to it.

Anya took her seat in the commanders chair „Then by all means, Initiate bring us to our destination"

The soldiers silently proceeded with the command and soon the giant ship started to slowly gain speed. There were no monitors of any kind on the bridge, the Initiates had a display in their armor already integrated, receiving and sending information via brain waves. Those that were not directly connected to the vessels sensors used a head-mounted virtual display device instead of a viewscreen.

The ship approached the giant space construct and with a flash of light it was fired out.

Anya always wondered how they made the things know where to shoot them without crashing into anything. Planets could be detected by gravity but what about the asteroids or other ship? It should be like shooting a target on the other side of a busy street, there was a lot of potential that the projectile could collide with something that rushed in its path.

They appeared not an inch to far from the planet sized ship.

The sphere was like a giant anthill. In its core was their lords laboratory. Then the Bio-reactors surrounded it in two layers. Almost all their soldiers were currently in there powering the giant construct. The next level was the construction and industrial part with machinery, armories and storage.

The last layer before the thick armor and defense turrets was the hangar filled with ships whose eezo cores served as the means for the Nyx to actually be able to move, but since the planet sized ship couldn't move through a Mass Relay it was restricted to normal FTL travel.

She felt proud that her race was able to produce such a technological marvel.

„Brings us in" she commanded as the ship found a free docking area in the Nyx.

* * *

„Comrade leader we are ready for the jump" said an Initiate.

„Excellent" said Yuri „then let history be rewritten" and with a simple command on his omni-tool he send all of the ships energy to the time machine in his laboratory.

Soon the ship itself started to resonate with the time machine and with a flash the giant construct disappeared from its spot.

* * *

_**-Moon, Yuris base – 1973.**_

„Comrade leader, the Allied plains have damaged one of our Power Plants in San Francisco. The Psychic Dominator on Alcatraz Island will not function" said an Initiate.

„Most unfortunate...but we have other devices. I think the time has come to activate them" said Yuri as he pushed a button.

* * *

_**- Earth, San Francisco, Alcatraz Island - 1973.**_

A Yuri clone slowly walked away from the explosion in the reactor he caused. With this the future will take a different path, hopefully one that will make humanity able to defeat the Reapers.

But the Yuri from this time line will have to be contacted sometime in the future. If by some chance he died it would prove to be...rather unpleasant for them all.

* * *

A/N: Thoughts?- also taking suggestion what should be the name for Yuris faction. Also take into consideration that in almost two centuries the RA2 technology will improve, so instead a rocket a unit will probably have a hand-held laser - prism gun or something.

Also the concept of time travel will be changed somewhat, meaning you are allowed to interact with people and objects without erasing them from existence. I disliked how killing Albert made the story shift in a wired way in RA3, wouldn't by killing Albert the timeline be corrected by stopping him from killing Hitler and starting RA1?


	2. Chapter 2

Dahlia impatiently taped her fingers on the hard metal „Where are those fools"

It wasn't as profitable to be a slaver as it once was. Worlds were better defended, traffic through the Verge was heavily patrolled...all this forced Dahlia Dantius to ally herself with a handful of batarian captains and attempt one of the biggest taboos...opening a dormant relay.

Sure it was risky, but piracy and slavery were never occupations for the weak hearted.

„Captain they have arrived" announced her turian pilot.

„It was about time" she approached him and pointed at the Relay 314 that could be seen from her ship „tell those ingrates to stop wasting time and follow us through that relay. We are NOT turning back until we find something or run out of provisions"

The pilot nodded and prepared the message, while she returned back to her seat.

The thirteen vessel flotilla entered the ancient device and appeared in an uncharted system. They scanned it and found a target.

„Captain we found a garden world...its inhabited" he smiled _finally profit! _„There are 6 ships in its orbit..fighters judging by size...they are changing direction...we are receiving a message" the pilot scanned the content and after making sure it wasn't malware the ship's computer played it.

The moment the monitor activated the ship crew was shocked silent.

_An...asari?_ they all thought. Even Dahlia wasn't unaffected by the pale-faced asari...alien that was displayed on it. Except the color and the absence of the head crest it was identical to her own species.

Her lips curled into a smile. She could only imagine the profits these slaves will bring her, especially the asari maidens will be head over heals for the newest sex toys on the market.

„Ovo je Sovjetski teritorij, smjesta se indentificirajte ili snosite posljedice" the image demanded.

„What did she say?" asked a dimwitted batarian, earning himself a few glares and even more eye rolls.

„Who cares, blast them!" Dahlia commanded. She didn't have time to waste on some first contact, she was here to make a profit.

* * *

„Zar su ti kapitalisti pre blesavi da ukljuće monitor..." hissed Anastasia „druže jesi li ikad vidio kapitaliste da imaju ovakve brodove?"

„Нет" said one of the pilots.

Before any of the others could reply four of their ships exploded.

The shock lasted only for a second „NAPAD!" Anastasia shouted followed by Fu Hsi, the other pilot who survived the assault.

As they raced closer to the enemy flotilla they activated the ships Iron Curtains and powered up their Tesla Coils.

Their MIGs had a rather short attack range, but with the Iron Curtain they were invulnerable for 10 minutes...more then enough time to bring down the thunder.

But just to be on the safe side Anastasia send a warning message down to Shanxi. Governess Wa Lao will know what to do.

* * *

The turian pilot snorted „They don't have kinetic barriers...Captain, we are dealing with savages here they don't even have barriers!" he shouted making the rest of the crew join in in the laugh.

„This will be easier then taking a wallet form a Volus infant" commented a batarian.

„And the last two are coming to join their friends it seems" said the pilot „then lets oblige them" he said and fired the ships cannons at the pests.

Only for the projectile to do nothing...

That actually made the pilot confused _I could have sworn I shot correctly._

He fired again, and still failed to even scratch the small vessels that were quickly closing in.

„Brutus eliminate those ships immediately" ordered Dahila

„Yes captain" he said and returned back to targeting, and fired.

Only to do nothing again „...I can't..."

„What?" asked Dahlia venomously.

„I-I don't understand...I hit it, but but nothing. Not even a shimmer of a kinetic barrier...those ships should have been already destroyed!"

„Get a grip you fool" she hissed „you simply missed, do it agai-„ her command was interrupted when the ship shuddered making her loose balance and fall to her knees.

„What was that" she demanded

„On of the batarian ships...it was destroyed" came a response „one of those patrol vessels fired some kind of electric discharge, seems that it reacted with something volatile" said one of the batarians.

Another explosion shook the ship again

„We lost another one" said the same batarian this time with worry in his voice.

„Well dont just stand there fire back!" she yelled.

„And what do you think we are doing!" spat Brutus „They activated some kind of barrier around their ships, no matter how much we hit them it doesn't even slow them down!"

„We lost two more...it seems their electronic systems were fried...propulsion,gravity, barriers, weapons...life support..." he said the last part almost as a whisper. They had air for five hours max, after that a rather nasty death awaited them if they don't leave or repair the system.

„Curses!" _and this looked like a nice easy profit!_ „Retreat! Get us out of here!" she demanded.

First her ship then the remaining batarians changed course back to the relay...but the smaller craft were faster.

Two by two the retreating pirates and slavers were pick off until only one managed to escape by the ancient prothean device.

Dahlia watched from the bridge the black monitor, wherever she looked all electronics were off-line. Her ship was only a few hundred kilometers away from the safety of the Verge...but without power...

_Not according to plan..._


	3. Chapter 3

Captain Vorhess watched the news on the extranet, a strong drink in his hand. It was two years since he was hired by Edan Had′dah to protect Camala. The small eezo rich world quickly became very important in the eyes of the Hegemony. Its mining and industrial output were easily the largest in the Verge.

And as its wealth was growing so was the danger of pirates. To prevent any...incidents so to say, the batarian aristocrat hired a bunch of mercenaries like Vorhess to safeguard the world and its shipping.

All together thirty warships were always present in its orbit, not including the traders, pirates and slavers that stopped to spend some free time away from the ship.

Vorhess welcomed the opportunity to relax for a short time and visit his favorite bar on Camala, there was only so much to do on his ship before he went still crazy.

He snorted _Again the Asari are complaining...if they don't wish their worlds attacked, then they should invest in better protection._

„Pardon, are you Captain Vorhess?" asked a voice from behind him.

Turning around to see who was asking he spotted a turian „Yea, what do you want?" he snapped. The Hierarchy and Hegemony were not fond of one another, that also normally applied for their citizen's, one of the quirks of group mentality.

„I was wondering if you are looking for additional crewmen" said the newcomer.

„Don't need em get lost" snapped the batarian as he returned to his drink. He actually did need crewman since a few of his were arrested for theft, but he didn't want any turians on his ship. _Stinking militarists..._

Saren cursed inwardly. He hoped by framing those fools under his command he will be able to infiltrate the ship and by proxy get close to Edans most trusted partner. The Council has its suspicions about the batarian aristocrat, but they needed proof before giving the all clear for his elimination. _If only the STG did its job properly...If I try to hard he will get suspicious, better to make him come to me._

His thoughts were interrupted when the underground bar shook violently. Thanks to his Spectre training he managed to remain on his feet but many a patron found either himself or his drink on the floor.

„What the hell was that?!" hissed the bartender.

Another tremor shook the bar, then another this one either being stronger or closer than the first.

Saren had a bad feeling_...This sounds like..._he quickly jumped over the bar and ducked under the counter.

Then all hell broke loose. A tremor stronger than any before hit the bar, damaging the building to its core.

Glass, metal and concrete fell from the ceiling injuring or killing the unsuspecting patrons.

The Spectre coughed from the dust that filled the place. He slowly stud up and looked around. The bar was a mess, but surprisingly it didn't suffer that much damage as he first thought. _Guess being build deep underground did have its good sides._

Slowly the rest of the mercs, slavers and other trash of the Terminus started to rise from their cover or even from the floor...at least those that were lucky enough not to be crushed by falling junk.

He looked at the bartender that wasn't quick enough, his head was split open, blood and brain-mater dripping down. He snorted and pushed the body away, as it fell on the floor Saren quickly accessed the computer terminal to see if the cameras were still functional.

_No luck...the damned things are off-line_.

„What the hell happened?!" said an asari, an Eclipse mercenary from the look of it. Saren ignored her, and all the rest as they started to repeat the same thing.

Наш Coветский Союз покоряет весь мир  
Как огромный медведь на Востоке.  
Овцы бродят безцельно, без всяких забот  
А Советский медведь на охоте.

Наше братство - хорошая жизнь,  
Наша щедрость ни с чем не сравнится.  
Все кто с нами - сильны  
Все кто против, держись  
Чтоб нам всем не пришлось потрудится.

Все народы, не стоит того  
Что бы мы превратили вас в пепел.  
Благодарны вам, низкий поклон,  
От самой могущеcтвенной nation.

All eyes turned to a salarian that stared at his omnitool. The poor alien tried to switch to some other frequency...but everything he tried ended the same.

„Shut the damned noise off!" roared a krogan.

The salarian complied and turned off his omnitool. But it didn't take long that the same noise started again when someone else tried to use the omnitool for communication.

„What in the name of the Spirits is going on here!" hissed a turian „all the channels are jammed with something, I can't reach anyone!"

Saren cursed inwardly, someone attacked Camala and in the worst possible time imaginable ..at least for him. But chaos also brings opportunity, if the whole city is in chaos then he could probably infiltrate Edans home and take any incriminating files present. _Any tempering may even be blamed on the attack or on looters..._

He moved quickly to the lift, pressing the button he waited for the insanely long and boring way up...with the same irritating music might he add...as he waited other survivors had the same idea and rushed to the it.

After ten minutes of waiting the group had enough, the krogan used its biotics and pushed the doors apart...the picture wasn't pretty.

The lift it seems lost its support because of the tremors and fell down, and if anyone was inside...well they will be most definitely dead.

„It looks like we have to climb" said the asari from before.

Saren nodded and turned the corner, he forced the emergency exit doors open and started the long climb up. One by one the others followed, that wasn't all that surprising most were cold-blooded killers who didn't back off easily, none of them would have stayed down there in ignorance, hoping that everything is alright. He had to give the people of the Terminus some credit, when it came down to it they acted, didn't simply cover in the corner like most in the Citadel space would do.

Slowly they made their way up, to him it looked like forever but finally they reached the top. Breaking through the door they exited into a long, dark tunnel that will take them outside.

Saren raised his hand „Someones approaching" he said silently. _Who ever it was, he..no they were in a hurry_. He griped his pistol, a classical reaction when dealing with an unknown factor.

The footsteps came closer...

„Stop!" he commanded, his voice made the approaching group halt in their steps.

The asari illuminated the corridor in front and came face to face with a frightened, dirty group of batarians.

„H-help us, please!" begged a female batarian „save us!"

_We don't have time for this_ cursed Saren „You" he pointed at a raged batarain „what the hell happened, what were those tremors"

The alien looked frightened being singled out all of a sudden „W- t-„

„We are under attack" interjected a batarian female „I don't know what happened, but when the first tremors started I looked out of the window..and the city...the city burned!" she started to talk nonsense after that when the shock finally caught up to her.

_That is what I thought._... „By who?"

The civilians could only shake their heads „W-we don't know, when the bombardment stopped we thought its over but then we saw landing craft descending and we ran...please...please we don't know anything else, please let us go"

_They bombarded Camala from orbit...and bombarding garden worlds is against Citadel law._ Although a serious crime by who ever made such a foolish move, that still didn't solve his present problems. _First I need to reach Edans residence, then reach Citadel space...and the second wont be easy...since they are landing troops then its safe to assume that they have a blockade around the local Relay and they have most probably either neutralized the dockingbay or have captured it._

Saren shook his head _I will think about that when I finished my original mission.._.he turned to the refuges „This corridor is a dead-end, you might as well stay here or go down the stairs to the Privateers Nest".

Not wishing to lose any more time he walked past the batarians, he had a job to do.

As they neared the exit the sound of combat was the first thing they perceived. Saren and the asari merc carefully approached the end of the tunnel. The sight was something he expected, the city was hit hard. Fires were burning all over the place, from the buildings to crashed vehicles and ships.

Saren retreated back a bit when a strange flying machine raced over the sky. Glancing around the area he found it safe enough to leave the cover, so he made a sprint to the closest building...er rather ruin. He easily entered the building closely followed by the asari and the rest.

„Well, so much for Camalas business opportunity" she spat „I don't know about you people but I will follow the example of those batarians and keep my head down until this is over"

„Hah coward!" said the krogan but smiled never the less „this is what a krogan lives for, battle!"

„I don't know about you people and frankly I don't care, the only thing that concerns me is my ship!" the batarian hissed „if those bastards even scratched the paint of her they are as good as dead!"

Saren had to restrain himself not to snort, who ever these people were it was obvious they were military, no band of mercs will be able to make a difference here „Do what you will, I'm leaving" without waiting for the rest he started to move through the building.

Glancing behind he saw that the band has disbanded and most returned to the tunnel, a few went to pursue some private matters, be it saving ships or stealing valuables...

He ducked behind a wall when one more of those strange flying machines flew by. He cursed for bringing only a handgun with him, and assault rifle would have been so much better now.

Saren peeked round the cover and satisfied the threat was gone resumed his mission. Since he reached the end of the building he took time to see if the area was clear.

He was about to dash over the street when the ground beneath his feet started to vibrate. The Spectre hid deeper in the building, but so that he still had view of the street.

The vibrations came closer and closer...the first that appeared was a long tube of sorts, then came a strange machine on tracks, strangely clothed soldiers standing on it or running beside it.

He heard a the sound of glass breaking under heavy footsteps coming towards him...taking cover behind a desk he waited.

The steps stopped. _Have I been discovered?_

Then to his surprise he heard another voice „NO! *hiss* Dont kill me *hiss* I surrender! *hiss*"

Saren almost wanted to kill the volus himself. The steps started again „руки вверх!" came the guttural reply. The Spectre prepared his gun but was relieved when the footsteps started to walk again away from him.

When he finally moved the strange armored machine and the soldiers were already gone. He sighted, it wasn't very far now to Edans penthouse, he will first go there, if he doesn't find any evidence then he will go to his villa.

He peeked again down the street and confident that he was alone he made a dash for the next building. The Specter repeated the process until he finally reached the aristocrats Spirits cursed skyscraper...and by some miracle it wasnt blown to bits like a few other of the taller buildings.

Again the lift wasn't operational so he started a long sprint up.

When he finally reached Edans room he hacked the door and let himself in. He didn't lose time and quickly went to look for any information that should be useful or should he say in any way incriminating.

It took some time but he smiled when he checked into the bedroom.

„Come on open the thing!" hissed the scantily clad female batarian.

„I'm working as fast as I can!" snapped the male „Edan placed good security on the safe"

Saren didn't know who the male batarian was, but the female he did recognize. She was his lover and obviously planed to make some extra cash while he was out.

„Got it!" said the batarian happily, a split second later a shot spread his brain over the wall. Before the female could scream a second shot repeated the same process.

Saren walked over the two corpses and opened the safe, he ignored the credits but quickly read through the datapads. _Bingo!_

His mission finished he turned around and proceeded with the - get the hell out of here - part of the mission.

The way down was far easier than going up, when he finally reached the ground floor he took cover. Slowly glancing outside he noted that all the fires made the sky pitch black from smoke.

He ran to the next building _Now to find a transport to get the hell out..._

Saren stopped when he heard the sound of shooting. Quietly he approached the noise, with every step the sound becoming louder.

He wasn't prepared to help against the attackers, but he was curious about their combat capabilities.

One of the attackers emerged from his cover and died when a sniper made a head-shot, Saren could only stare at the bizarre battle.

The attackers didn't have any form of kinetic barriers, the accelerated round easily breaching their armor, killing them on the spot.

He actually emerged behind enemy lines, so he had a clear view of their backs as they fired at the defenders...and that amazed him even more. They used no mass effect tech whatsoever it seemed, for their weapons didn't fire projectile but a beam of red light, that burned everything it touched.

He saw a krogan receive a hit in his head, the red light easily going through it and burning a hole in the wall behind, leaving the reptile to fall down dead, blood staining the street.

_Lasers?! Hand held lasers!_ Saren was left speechless, no wonder they had no barriers, they were useless...though if they did, this battle would have been a one sided slaughter, this way it was somewhat even.

A biotic used its power to lift a few attackers from behind their cover before well placed shots ended their lives.

„граната!" came a shout and small objects were thrown at the defenders, it all ended in a series of strong explosions that shook the ground. Before the defenders could orient themselves from the smoke, shrapnel and loud sound a barrage of lasers came down, melting through their armor like it was paper, the kinetic barriers not stopping the onslaught in the least.

Saren saw enough, he quickly pulled his gun and with precision eliminated the attackers from behind. One of them turned around and pointed his weapon at him but was soon lifted from the ground by the biotic from before and slammed hard into a wall.

Since the battle stopped Saren started to look at the newcomers. The armor wasn't known to him, it was fully insulated so it was designated for space combat as well as planetary operations. He saw a strange symbol, something that looked like a primitive hammer and something else, like a crescent moon with a handle...

He grabbed the helmet of the dead alien and found the release mechanism, it made a hiss and opened. Pulling it from the body he had the second shock of the day, the alien had a face so similar to an asaris...it was ridiculous, only differences he could note were that instead of a head crest it had fur on its head, and its skin was...well white would be the closest color.

He didn't bother glancing up when the other defenders approached, far more interested in the laser weapon he took from the dead alien.

_This!..bringing this to the Citadel was of utmost importance! Edan was irrelevant, but this...could change everything._

Then a thought crossed his mind..._why should the Council get this...the Hierarchy needs this far more then they._

„Appreciate the sav-" said a female voice, but that turned into shock when she saw the unmasked attacker „by the Goddess!"

Saren finally turned around and saw the ragtag band, an asari biotic and a bunch of batarians... „Whats the situation" he demanded.

His words shook the asasri out of her stupor „Wha-oh that" a grim expression crossed her face „its bad, the city is practically overrun, we tried to reach the docks to commandeer a ship, but then we encountered another group, apparently the enemy has complete space control, nothing except their ships can leave"

„What about the ships that were guarding the planet?" not that he didn't already know.

She shook hear head.

_Thought so..._ a movement from the side made him tense, one of the enemies, the one that the biotic slammed in the wall moved.

The others followed his stare and when they saw a survivor they pointed their guns to finish the job.

„Stop!" Saren hissed and rushed to the alien, he removed the helmet and slammed his fist into its face. The body stopped moving, but it was still very much alive – only unconscious.

„What are you doing?" asked te asari.

„Yes, get out of the way so we can finish the trash" growled a batarian angrily.

„We need to know who these people are and any information we can get" was the only answer he gave before he picked the alien up and started to walk to the underground bar, the safest place so far. He stopped and looked at the asari „can you get information when mindmelding?"

The asari nodded.

„Then follow me, its time we find out what is happening here" carrying the alien on his back Saren proceeded to walk as fast as he could over the damaged road without stumbling.

He was pleased to note that the rest of the group was following behind, there was a possibility he will need fodder for a distraction.

* * *

The Spectre had to admit that he was exhausted but they finally managed to return to the bar. And he wasn't surprised when a lot of guns were pointed in his general direction.

„Ah, its only you" said the asari that decided to wait it out here „and you brought company...but unfortunately we don't have either food or drinks for them so they will have to leave"

„We first need to rest" he glanced at the asari that accompanied him from outside „perform the meld, I want to know everything"

He placed the alien on the ground and she sat in front of it, placing her hand on his head

The rest watched, some in amazement at the asasri lookalike, others that came with him with hatred.

The meld didn't take long and soon the asari removed her hand and opened her eyes, a grim expression on her face.

„What have you found out?" he demanded.

She sighted „Their species is called human, a relatively young species that left their planet a few centuries ago"

Saren heard the batarians sneer and call them primitives, the Specter was prone to agree with them but the laser weapon that he took warned him not to jump the gun „And?"

„They are a deeply fragmented species, almost in a constant state of war since they can remember. Their various nations that were formed on their world called Earth managed to form two opposing systems. One are the Allies, or the free democracies...the other is the Soviet Union, a militaristic superpower dedicated to conquest and spreading of the Marxist theory".

Saren had the urge to punch someone _Great we are dealing with asari-like krogan with laser weapons and Hanar-like devoting to a cause...can it get any worse_ „And what is this Marxist theory?"

She tilted her head attempting to make heads or tails about the foreign philosophy „Basically its about a conflict of interests, or rather a class conflict the Bourgeoisie and the Proletariat. The end result should be the formation of a Communist society.." when she saw that the things she said didn't really make any sense to the rest she shrugged „They wish to make the society like the Quarians have it, where there is no private and all is communal"

Saren snorted „How did we get into this mess.."

She coughed „It seems that a few years back one of their worlds was attacked by batarian slavers, they failed and were captured. After managing to learn the language they tortured the prisoners for information" explained the asari.

All eyes were now directed at the batarians.

The four-eyed aliens shifted uneasily „Hey it was a good idea at the time!" one of them protested.

„I knew that you idiots will cause us trouble one day" hissed Saren _Unauthorized opening of a Mass Relay, another breach of Citadel Law... its like the perfect day to search for dirty little secrets._

„Watch your mouth turian!" growled another batarian, the rest of the four eyes grabbed their weapons.

„Stop it!" came the shout, all eyes turned to the asari „we don't have time to fight amongst ourselves, this wasn't the only attack" she said much to their confusion „this" she motioned with her hand at the destroyed bar „is happening all over the Terminus, their armada is attacking even Omega if his memories about the attack plan is true!" she raged „if we don't stand together we will fall!"

She pointed at Saren „You think laser weapons are special? It's a weapon for common foot soldiers, there are other...enemies far more powerful then the Conscripts" she indicated at the unconscious soldier „their ships have barriers that make them invulnerable for a set amount of time! By the Goddess, the only accelerator weapon they have is the Chinese Nuke Cannon! And it fires an accelerated nuclear warhead worth 750 kilotons..." she started to breathe heavily, not that surprising considering that a Dreadnoughts main gun fires a round worth 25 kilotons...this was more than even the Citadel defenses could handle.

A stunned silence filled the room as everyone thought about the military capabilities of the Soviets, and they were only one part of the species.

Saren didn't care what happened to the Terminus, but these humans were a threat to the Citadel, to the Hierarchy...so they had to be stooped at any cost.

„Now that we roughly know whats going on, I suggest that we think about escaping this place" stated Saren and smiled „and you will help us do that" his smile making the asari shiver from his gaze.

„You have a plan?" she asked

„Ohh yes, I most certainly do"

* * *

AN: Sorry for the long wait, but simply couldn't make a good chapter if you killed me, they all seemed so stale and boring - so I came up with this. It will be based mostly about Terminus trying to stop the Soviet invasion, the rest...well the other factions will slowly be dragged into the conflict irrelevant if they like it or not.

I didn't give the Soviets any barriers since on Earth nobody uses projectile weapons anymore, and it would be to costly to make them now. But the rest of the Soviet army will have far superior armor so a single Tesla Trooper or Desolator will be a big threat even alone against squads with biotic support. And I didn't even start about the war machines - Kirov spaceship anyone? Or perhaps an Apocalypse Tank...well all in its time. And can someone recommend me a better tank name then a Rhino? Something that the Soviets would actually use.

And yes I crammed in the Nuke Cannon from C&C Generals, why? I needed a better alternative to V3s.


End file.
